Arpita Akhanda, a multidisciplinary artist born in 1992, completed her BFA and MFA in Painting from Kala Bhavana, Visva-Bharati, Santiniketan in 2015 and 2017 respectively.
Akhanda’s solos include Weaving Water－水を織る, Kyoto Art Centre, Kyoto, Japan, 2025; শরীর | Körper: The Memory Collector, Kunstraum Aarau, Switzerland, 2021; and A Walk over Senses, JANUS Center for Visual and Performing Art, Kolkata, 2018. Notable group exhibitions are Memory, in Texture: Where the Imagined Holds the World Together, Artist Cafe Fukuoka, Fukuoka, Japan, 2026; KUCH KEHNA HAIH(a)unting: Futures of the South + Asian Artist, Gwangju, South Korea, 2026; Of the Land curated by Sobia Zaidi, Soil Art Gallery, Seattle, US, 2025; I Still Dream of Lost Vocabularies curated by Bindi Vora, Autograph Gallery, London, 2025 – 26; Dialogues Across Time: Indian Contemporary and Folk Art, Indian Museum x Basu Foundation, Kolkata, 2025; Paanch, Cinci, Fünf, Wǔ, Cinque, Galerie Russi Klenner, Berlin, 2024; Imaging Arriving Departing, Exhibit 320, New Delhi, 2024; Polyphonies in Distance, Gallery Dotwalk, Delhi, 2023; Rivers and Roads: Meandering Stories of India, AAIE Center for Contemporary Art, Rome, 2022 – 23; Of Liminal Beings and Other Spaces, Emami Art, Kolkata, 2021; The Trifecta of Movement, Exhibit 320, New Delhi, 2021; andThe Lay of the Land, Exhibit 320, New Delhi, 2020. Her works have been presented by Emami Art at many art fairs including Art Dusseldorf 2024, 2023; India Art Fair 2025, 2024, 2023; Art Mumbai 2023; AD Design Show 2022, Mumbai, Hub India; and Artissima International Fair of Contemporary Art at Torino, Italy, 2021.
She has performed at various national and international spaces including Artist Cafe Fukuoka, Fukuoka, Japan, 2026; Kyoto Art Centre, Kyoto, 2025; The Prince Claus Fund Biennial Symposium 2023, Sri Lanka; K21, Dusseldorf, Germany, 2023; Huis Marseille,
Amsterdam, Netherlands, 2023; Museum Night Maastricht, Jan Van Eyck Academie, Netherlands, 2023; AAIE Center for Contemporary Art, Rome, 2022-23; India Art Fair 2022, New Delhi; Piramal Art Residency, Mumbai, 2019-20; and Theertha International Performance Platform, Colombo, Sri Lanka, 2019. She has conducted several talks, presentations, workshops, and screenings, including the screening of The Living Scar at Lumière Cinéma, Maastricht NL, 2023; Understanding Body as Home, a talk and workshop at University of the Arts London, UK, 2023; Memory Collector, a talk and workshop at Camberwell College of Arts, UK, 2023; The Living Scar and The Last Leap screened at Young Collectors Hub at Bikaner House, as a part of India Art Fair 2023.
Akhanda has been selected for Goethe-Institut Salvador-Bahia artist residency at Vila Sul, Salvador-Bahia, Brazil, 2027; the Fukuoka Asian Art Museum Artist in Residency Program, Japan, 2026; and Singapore Art Museum Residency, Singapore, 2026. She participated in residency projects at the Kyoto Art Center, Japan, 2025 and Jester, Genk in Belgium, 2024; Hampi Arts Lab Residency, Karnataka in 2024; Jan Van Eyck Residency 2022-23; India Art Fair Artists in Residence program, New Delhi, 2022; Artist in Residence program 2021, Gästeatelier Krone, Aarau, Switzerland in association with Khoj Kolkata; and Piramal Art Residency Mumbai 2019-20.
Akhanda was awarded the 2025 Sovereign Asian Art Prize; BW Masterpiece 40 under 40 Awards, New Delhi, 2025; The Arts Family Emerging Artist Award - South Asia 2024 (2nd prize); the 2022-23 Prince Claus Seed Fund; Inlaks Fine Art Award 2022; Emerging Artist Award 2020-21 by FICA and Mrinalini Mukherjee Foundation 2021; State Award Fellowship in New Media from Prafulla Dahanukar Art Foundation, 2019; and the National Scholarship by CCRT Ministry of Culture, Govt. of India in Painting, 2016. She was selected to be on the jury for the 2026 Sovereign Asian Art Prize.
Her works are on display at the permanent collection show at K20 Museum Kunstsammlung, Nordrhein-Westfalen.
She lives and works in Santiniketan.
